Locking clothes hanger



Sept. l2, 1967 A. GORMAN LOCKING CLOTHES HANGER Filed De. 28, 1965 rlivflL United States Patent O 3,341,025 LOCKING CLOTHES HANGER Arnold Gorman, 1911 Beacon St., Brookline, Mass. 02146 Filed Dec. 28, 1965, Ser. No. 516,890 3 Claims. (Cl. 2114) This invention relates to clothes hangers and more particularly to hangers provided with means for locking a garment in place to prevent theft or accidental removal.

In public coat rooms garments can be readily stolen or taken by mistake. Even when the coat room is supervised by an attendant and the coats are identified by indidividual checks, in the usual manner, mixups frequently occur.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a device for locking garments individually on coat hangers, so that only the person having the correct key for a particular hanger can remove the garment. Another object is to provide a locking device which is simple to operate and inexpensive to manufacture. Other objects, advantages, and novel features will be apparent from the following description.

The device consists in general of a clothes hanger disposed in an inverted channel-shaped enclosure. The hanger is suspended on a strap hinged to the top wall of the enclosure. The strap is connected by a link to a door hinged to one end of the top wall, so that the hanger can -be raised and lowered by swinging the door. In this lowered position, the hanger is free of the enclosure so that a garment can be placed von it or removed. yIn its raised position the hanger, along with the garment, is within the enclosure which ts closely around the shoulder portions of the garment to prevent removal of the garment from the hanger. In the drawing illustrating the invention FIG. 1 is a side elevation, with the enclosure partly broken away, of a hanger constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation similar to FIG. 1 showing the hanger in unlocked position;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, partly broken away, of the hanger; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged end view of the hanger.

The hanger is mounted in an inverted channel-shaped enclosure consisting of a top wall and a pair of side walls 11 and 12. There may be instances when a single enclosure and hanger maybe used. However, in many installations, such as public coat rooms the top wall may be of considerable length and the side walls may be partitions defining channel shaped individual compartments in which hangers are mounted. One end of the enclosure is mounted on a Wall 25 or any convenient support.

Hinged to the top of the enclosure at the free end is a door 13, having a lock 14, Iwhich operates a bolt 15. When the door is closed and locked, bolt 15 is received in a hole 16 in wall 12. The lock may be operated by a key or may be coin operated by one of the devices customarily used on public lockers.

A rod 17 is hingeably connected by an eye 18 to an eye 19 mounted on the door. The rod is also connected by an eye 20 to an eye 21, mounted at the mid point of strap 22, which is hinged to the top wall 10. Supported on the ice free end of the strap is a coat hanger 23. The hanger is attached to the strap by a closed eye 24 passing through a hole in the strap, and cannot be removed.

When the door is open, the hanger is below the enclosure as shown in FIG. 2, and is available to receive a garment. The weight of the hanger and its leverage on the strap is enough to overcome the weight of door 13, so that the hanger automatically drops to this position when the door is not locked.

When the hanger is to be used, the garment, for eX- ample, a coat, is placed on it in its free position. The user then closes and locks the door, drawing the hanger up into the enclosure as shown in FIG. 1 and carrying the neck and shoulder parts of the garment into the enclosure. The side walls 11 and 12 t rather snugly around the hanger assembly so that it is diicult to remove the garment when the hanger is in locked position. Even if removal of the garment is possible, it is so awk- Ward and time consuming that theft, or accidental removal of the garment by the wrong person is effectively discouraged. The garment may be readily removed by the person having the key to the lock, as he can open the door and drop the hanger to its free position. The door can be easily manipulated with one hand, so that the garment can be removed with the other.

This device insures that garments left in a public coat room or rack, will be safe from theft or accidental 'removal. The device is also useful in a coat room where there is an attendant as the attendant cannot accidentally give a customer the wrong garment.

What is claimed is:

1. A locking garment hanger comprising an inverted channel-shaped enclosure having a narrow top wall and downwardly extending side Walls, a lever swingably connected t0 one of said enclosure Walls, a clothes hanger suspended from said enclosure and movable between a raised position in which said hanger is disposed within said enclosure adjacent said top wall and a lowered position in which said hanger is below said enclosure, a linkage connecting said hanger to said lever and operable by swinging said lever to move said hanger between said positions and lock means on said lever to hold the hanger in said raised position.

2. A locking garment hanger as described in claim 1, said lever comprising a door hinged to said top wall, at one end thereof, and said hanger being in said raised position when said door is closed.

3. A locking garment hanger as described in claim 2, said linkage comprising a strap having one end hinged to said top wall and the other end attached to said hanger, and a rod connected to said strap intermediate said ends and connected to said door.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,635,304 4/1953 Peters 211-4 3,214,032 10/1965 Hightower 211-99 3,271,090 9/1966 Smithers 312-71 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner. W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A LOCKING GARMENT HANGER COMPRISING AN INVERTED CHANNEL-SHAPED ENCLOSURE HAVING A NARROW TOP WALL AND DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS, A LEVER SWINGABLY CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID ENCLOSURE WALLS, A CLOTHES HANGER SUSPENDED FROM SAID ENCLOSURE AND MOVABLE BETWEEN A RAISED POSITION IN WHICH SAID HANGER IS DISPOSED WITHIN SAID ENCLOSURE ADJACENT SAID TOP WALL AND A LOWERED POSITION IN WHICH SAID HANGER IS BELOW SAID ENCLOSURE, A LINK- 